the svea court of appeal in the early modern period 66 diocese of Västerås, who had been nominated as army chaplain (Fältt Predicant), but had not been able to embark on time because of the rapid departure of the army. The court wrote to the bishop on his behalf.157 This goes to demonstrate the variable range of business conducted by the court. Thus, the King’s absence from Sweden on urgent matters of the state required extraordinary measures in the administration of both finance and justice. The judges of the Court of Appeal and the Councillors of the Treasury were authorized to resolve cases in lieu of the King and received extensive, but partly temporary powers. This was a practical arrangement, both granting the people access to remedies in Sweden proper during Gustav II Adolf ’s absence in Finland or the Baltic Region, and largely freeing the King from the incessant flow of petitions he received daily while not diminishing his powers as granted by law and custom. The sources of the Svea Court of Appeal from 1614 strongly suggest that it was founded somewhat hurriedly so that many matters concerning its practical functioning and the position of its staff in the crown’s service were left completely or partly unregulated. It did not take long for these issues to become acute problems for the court and its officials. The various names used of the court in Swedish and in other languages –konunglig hovrätt (Konungzlige Hoffrätt, “royal court court,” from the GermanHofgericht), konungsnämnd (Konungz Nämbd, “King’s jury”), konungens överste dom(öfwerste Doom, the King’s highest judgement), kungsdomhavande (Kongsdomhafwande, those using the King’s power to judge), dicasterium, parlamentum andsupremum in regno Sveciæ iudicium– derive from an assortment of foreign and older domestic models of arranging higher jurisdiction. However, they can be also interpreted as indicating that the nexus of the King and his new Court was diffuse and undefined. The Ordinance of 1614 left the staff of the court largely unspecified apart from the judges. The panel of judges was to comprise fourteen persons, including the Drots of the Realm as president and four other Councillors of the Realm, five other (less aristocratic) noblemen and four others 157 RA, SHA, B I a:1, 10 June 1614, fol. 11r. Urgency of War? The Poorly Prepared Jumpstart of the New Court
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